Did we ever wondered that literacy products are real art where one express himself or any event through writing and once it start getting a exposure that is when the person realises about his skills and hardwork and to protect this literacy works with a guranteed act was highly needed and then when the concept of COPYRIGHT came into existence under the Intellectual Property.
Lets know what actually is copyright?
Copyright is an exclusive rights which are granted to the authors, artists, composers, programmers, cinematographers, dramtists etc sole and privileges to sell,print,publish their works and held an individual liable who infringes them.Copyright is a unique kind of IP the importance of which is increasing day by day.The primary function of a copyright law is to protect the fruits of a man’s work,labour,skills from being taken away from other people.
The constitutional reference of copyright is explained under The Copyrights Act 1957,which deals with the protection of copyrights in India.Copyright is explained under Section 14 of the act.
Historical Development Of Copyrights
Copyright is an age all topic which goes down to the 16th century and maybe more backward,earlier it was only related to copying of books,with changing times it is now regarded to a very wider arrears which are been mentioned above.Modern copyrights has been influenced by the old legal rights which are recognised in history like the moral rights given to the authors,economic rights to the benefactor,property rights and sovereign rights etc which goes down to ancient Greek and Roman laws.The idea of copyright came into start with the emerging of printing.As now it was possible for literacy work to be duplicated by mechanical process,prior it was just hand writing as sole method of reproduction.As Gutenberg’s invention of printing press in 1436 at Germany,when it realised the neccesity for protecting printers andbooks was recognised.However German Principalities granted certain privileges to printers,publishers and authors.This idea of printing press was spread across Europe in a very small span of time.King Richard III allowed foreigners to import manuscripts and books to England to get printed. Like this way book trade came into the hands of foreigners.This freedom enabled England to emerge as major centre of printing in Europe.During 1523-1528,several restrictions were introduced by Henry VIII in prohibiting of importation of books altogether in 1533 as their were enough printers and book binders in England.And in the year 1529 a system of privileges were setup for printing.Soon after this a Royal charter was granted ,which provided the rights to administer the system of private registration of all published books.All printed and reprinted books were to be entered into registration of company before publishing.They were also vested powers to deal with infringement and also were granted powers of destruction of illegal copies.
In 1662,a act named Licensing act came into picture at England.This act prohibited printing of book which are not licensed or registerd with the stationer’s company.It was the very first law which aimed at protecting copyrights and checking of piracy along with seizures and confiscation of unauthorised copies and imposing fines on such printers.This act had a very short life and was repealed in 1679.As all this happening in a very minute times thus copyright gained momentum and also assumed significance and it realised the roles played by authors and publishers in development of society by the creation and dissemination of their works to be supported ,encouraged and adequately rewarded.
Later in1790 an act named Act of Queen Anne was passed in United Kingdom.It was world’s first copyright law which worked on 3 basic rules and those were-
1.Authors of books which were not printed were having sole rights for 14 years and after 14 years if it is still not printed 14 years would be extended more.
2.The infringers would forefeit and had to pay fine for each sheet,where half went to the crown and the rest half to the plaintiff or who had filed a suit.
3.No suit could be filed unless the title of book was is entered before publication at the register of stationer’s company.
Before 1709,Copyrights were considered as common law,and after the enactment of statue of Anne,common law copyright was continued to subsit in perpetuity.Many statutes were adopted to copyright protection and hence in 1911 Copyright Act was adopted which codified laws and repealed some 20 legislations.Also the concept of Common law copyright was abolished under the same.This act provided that it should not do away with any right or just to restrain breach of trust or confidence.
In United States of America the revolution of 1776 created a strong nstionalistic feeling to english concept of copyright and in 1790 the Copyright Act was passed. In India,earliest law with regard to copyright was Indian Copyright Act of 1847 which was enacted during the East India Company.It was passed by the Governor-General in consideration with application of english Copyrights law.The Copyright Act 1911 was applicable to all british colonies including India.In 1914,India copyright act was enacted which was modification of 1911 act.Therefore the Indian Copyright act 1914 reamined applicable in India until replaced by Copyright Act 1957.
A case law related to infringing of copyrights is-
.DESIGNERS GUILD LTD VS RUSSELL WILLIAMS LTD
The plaintiff bought proceedings claiming that the defendant had infringed the plaintiffs copyright by copying its fabric designs,for the fabric design Ixia.The defendant had copied a little part of Ixia.It was said by the house of lords that the law of copyright rests on a very clear principle that anyone by his or her own skill creates an original work shall enjoy exclusive right to copy that work.No one else can be benefitted with the work of other.
.EASTERN BOOK COMPANY VS D.B.MODAK
When a person produces something with his skill and labour,it normally belongs to him and others are not permitted to make a profit out of it.The copyright act 1957,gives exclusive rights to the authors.The object of the act is to protect the authors of copyrights.The issue of copyright is closely connected to that of commercial viability and commercial consequences and implications. .
WALTER VS LANE(1900)
In this case the question arose with regard to newspaper report of public speeches of Lord Rosebery.The speeches were first published in The Times and the reporter altered the speech for publication.Now the question arose was who was the owner of the copyrights with regard to reports,Thus the House of Lord held that the owner of copyright was reporter.
Copyrights are importance as it gives importance and economic benefits to our intellectuals who have to appreciaited and rewarded for the outstanding work that they have done and also and post appreciation for all that effort and extraordinary thought.This laws also protects their rights from getting misused and copied and also encourage them to do more creative work and also ensures that the author gets his due credit.As infringement is other mode of exploiting but now this laws and awareness which has evolved keeps a check on it.Also this laws are made to ensure that such measures do not create a barrier with the creativity of individuals.
REFERNCES
1.LECTURES ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS-DR REGA SURYA RAO
2.DR G.B.REDDY-INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAW 3.V.K.AHUJA -LAW RELATING TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
4.blog.ipleaders.in
5.britannica.com
6.worldwidejournals.com
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